A Flame in the Night
by Maikle E. Blackwood
Summary: In the shadows of the night, immortals roam free; vampires, lycans, hybrids, hunters, even hybrid-zombies... Step into this world through the life of Emperor Kheios, a newborn hybrid. (An Immortal Day/Night fanfiction; PLEASE READ A/N!)
1. Intro

A/N: Before you go on, **PLEASE READ THIS**.

 _A Flame in the Night_ is an interview-style, first-person narrative of Emperor Kheios, my character on Immortal Day. I'm very much into roleplay, and I've developed his character a bit, but I want to further develop him on a day-to-day basis. I figured this was the best place to post this, since it could be argued that Emperor is an OC from the ID universe.

This story will be indefinitely 'in progress' as I continue to develop him, and there may or may not be mature scenes in the future; I'll update the maturity as needed when the occasion arises.

Now that we've got that covered, enjoy _A Flame in the Night_!

* * *

*click*

 ** _State your name for the recording, please._**

 _Emperor._

 ** _...Name, please._**

 _Sorry; Emperor Kheios._

 ** _*annoyed* I said 'name,' not 'title.'_**

 _That is my name; it's an ongoing joke in my family to give all the men 'royal' names. My father is Sire Kheios._

 ** _...I see. Date of birth?_**

 _...Which birth?  
_

 ** _Excuse me?_**

 _Which birth? I was human before I was... reborn as a hybrid._

 _ ***confused* ...Explain.**  
_

 _My parents are human. I was born the 5th of June, ninety-six. On November 13th, 2015, I was... injected with vampire and lycan blood, and reborn as a hybrid._

 ** _*suspicious* Injected how?_**

*tap*

 _*softly* ...Fangs; I was bitten._

 ** _*skeptical* By a vampire...  
_**

 _And a lycan. A... werewolf, if you will.  
_

 ** _*sigh* Mr. Kheios, have you considered a psychiatrist?_**

 _...Sir, I came to you to show the world the truth. To bare my proverbial soul... And this is how you react? With cynical skepticism...  
_

*creak*

 _Maybe I should go somewhere else..._

 ** _No, wait... Sorry, I just don't really believe in the supernatural...  
_**

 _*soft chuckle*  
_

*creak*

 _Should I suck your blood to prove it to you?_

*chair leg screeches across floor*

 ** _NO!_**

 _*light laugh* Don't worry yourself, my friend; I may be homosexual, but I have a type, as much as anyone, and you, no offense, do not fit it._

 ** _*nervous chuckle* Uh, y-yeah..._**

 _*smile in his voice* Next question.  
_

 ** _Ah... r- *ahem* right..._**

*papers shuffle*

 _ **Um... Describe yourself, for listeners, or readers or whatever...**_

 _Five-foot-nine, off-black shoulder-length hair with hints of auburn, and cat-like flourite eyes. I have an athletic build from all my training, and tanned skin from my mother's Polynesian ancestry. Next?_

 ** _Uh... I don't think... Oh, um... No; never mind... So, ah... Just go ahead, I guess._**

 _*clears throat* Hello, to everyone listening. My name is Emperor, and what I'm about to tell is the truth, a look at my life in a world hidden by a nothing more than a secret you've ignored for centuries.  
_


	2. Soul Collector

The Soul Collector is one of the strangest parts of this world, I think... On his property, no one's safety is guaranteed, even your own. Of all the immortals I've met, he is the only one that truly terrifies me; I have seen what he does to humans in his torture chamber...

Of course, I am by no means innocent of such deeds myself, but my own methods are quick, as painless as I can make it. The Soul Collector...

*shudder*

I would swear on any god you believe in that he has no emotions whatsoever; the horrendous cries of tortured humans roll off him like water off oiled skin...

And the experiments? I honestly do not ever want to see what goes on behind the closed doors of his laboratory; I am content to rob graves and take the soul karma he offers in exchange for body parts.

Ah, allow me to elucidate...

There are three important roles the Soul Collector fills.

One: As I said, he offers soul karma in exchange for body parts raided from graveyards. To get said parts requires finding the specific graveyard from which he needs them, fighting off the gravedigger, and killing reanimated dead disturbed by your passage.

It is... exciting, to say the least.

Two: The soul karma you receive then makes catching humans easier, and, through torture, their souls can be extracted. The Soul Collector, of course, owns the torture chamber.

And three... I know you are likely wondering why souls are so important... There are many reasons, but the most important is that souls serve as a secondary form of currency; the Soul Collector also runs a soul exchange, where souls can be traded for wolf or vampire vemon, each of which serves its purpose.

Souls can also be used to buy and feed familiars, but I am not strong enough yet to maintain one of my own, so that part will have to wait for another time.

*sigh*

I suppose I should admit that, though the Soul Collector terrifies me, I also rather admire him; he is very good at what he does...

All the more reason to be wary of him, however; he seems to be the epitome of what we immortals can become should we allow ourselves to remain alone, untouched by companionship... Where humans go crazy, immortals become no more than intelligent beasts, predators on all, including our own.


	3. City Grid and Feeding

Perhaps the one thing that annoys me most thus far is the city grid, for a number of reasons.

The biggest reason is this: I continuously fail to seize humans.

If you recall, I mentioned earlier that souls are fairly important, and to get souls, you have to capture humans and torture them.

Now, please understand; I realize that you humans are likely appalled by this aspect of my life, but it is just that, a part of my life. I _need_ souls, so I must seize humans and extract it from them, or steal souls while prowling.

The fact that I cannot seem to capture humans in more than ninety-nine percent of my attempts is quite frustrating to me.

Another reason the city grid annoys me is the location requirements. When traveling from city to city, one can do whatever one wishes... _EXCEPT_ explore the city grid, UNLESS they relocate to the edge of the city they were in previously.

Why should I have to return to where I arrived?

...Well, I suppose I should not complain much on that point; it is useful to avoid human authorities.

And, make no mistake, the city grid is not all bad; I often find lone humans to feed from. Do not worry yourself on this; I never drink all of a human's blood, and I always take them to a hospital or clinic after to ensure their survival.

For the most part, I only feed on human men. My orientation, of course, but also because it's more of a challenge; never once have I failed to charm a human woman, when I need a quick meal, but men occasionally sense the danger and run. It has become something of a game to me; whenever I am exploring the grid and find a man, assuming I have not already drunk my fill, I like to see if I can succeed in charming him.

*laugh*

I have approximately a sixty-forty success rate. And, when I do succeed, I always wipe his memory and replace it with a pleasant false memory of having sex with his ideal partner, be them male, female, gorgeous, so-so, or none of the above.

*chuckle*

No, the city grid is not all bad...

Mm... I suppose I could say the pros balance out the cons... Would outweigh them if I could find my own ideal partner, but who feels not that way these days?


	4. Houses

A/N: HAPPY NEW YEAR, EVERYONE! ^w^ From all of us here at Blackwood Incorporated, Emperor especially~

Keep an eye out for some upcoming stories in the next couple of months: another Dark-Hunter story by myself and BDV, and a SasuNaru AU!

And with that, enjoy the next installation of _A Flame in the Night_. 3

* * *

I have to admit, the idea of houses had me a bit skeptical; groups of immortals gathered in one place with no regard for species... I considered it a recipe for disaster.

But community is better than loneliness. As I said before, isolation in the first step to truly becoming a monster, like the Soul Collector.

So I tried a house.

And made a mistake.

The house I chose first-I will refrain from naming it-was much too strict. The leader demanded nigh impossible goals of us, myself especially, and stress built as I tried to meet those goals.

My closest friend, Alex, saved me.

She reminded me that it isn't necessary to be a warring immortal, that there are more important things than being the strongest, smartest, fastest, most defended or accurate...

*chuckle*

Of course, within a day following that conversation, the leader quit the house to join another. I left as well, deciding it was pointless to stay.

I believe I can say Ravenwood chose me, rather than vice versa... You see, when human authorities capture immortals, we often lend each other a hand and bust each other out. Around the time I left my first house, most of the immortals who busted me out of prison were members of Ravenwood, and my curiosity compelled me to look into this new house. I immediately felt right at home, and on New Year's Day of 2016, I applied-and was accepted-to the house.

If I may say it, I think my decision to join Ravenwood is the best choice I have made since becoming a hybrid. The other members of the house are kind, welcoming, and there is no pressure to build up one's stats. Members who wish to war, of course, are offered positions as guardians of Ravenwood, protectors, so that non-warring members are safe.

With no pressure, no stress, I willingly chose to become a guardian; I think such a generous environment will help me grow much better than the one I left, don't you?


	5. Friendships

...It is incredible how quickly things can change. The moon waxes and wanes in less than thirty days. Children grow up in the blink of an eye.

Once impenetrable friendships dissolve in an instant...

I had thought I would become a part of the community quickly, and make friends with many people. But here I am, abandoned by the first friend I made.

Perhaps it is my fate to be alone. Perhaps I deserve it; after all, I was gone for a long time with no word of when I would return.

I am curious... Will I become a soulless monster, like the Soul Collector? I do not think I would mind that so much anymore...

Even Ravenwood has abandoned me now. Lady Ravey shut us down some time ago; I thought I could recover from that, but I found I could not, which was likely the main reason behind my long absence.

I have joined another house, The Warriors of Death, but I have no confidence it will last long, for any number of reasons. Even with companions, I am still alone, and I do not doubt it will be a difficult task to pull myself up from this hole.


	6. A Peek at the City Grid

_I teleported to the edge of the city, an old abandoned building that immortals used to keep human authorities from discovering our existence. There was a cluster of lycans in one corner, talking idly amongst themselves. I glanced at them just as another lycan hurried up._

 _"Sorry I'm late, guys!" she panted. "I got caught by the cops and failed to break out twice..."_

 _"Don't worry about it," the pack leader smiled. "Let's go, everybody." He put his hand out and the other lycans piled on their own hands, like they were getting ready for some kind of cheer or something. Then they vanished with the eerie_ whoosh _of teleportation. I shook my head and passed the spot on my way to the stairs._

 _The stars were just coming out. The sun was just below the horizon, painting the sky a dusky red-orange that faded to deep blue. On the opposite horizon, the full moon hung like a lantern in the sky. My kind of night._

 _I strode along the street, reveling in the crisp spring breeze and the heady scents of humans all around me. Ahead of me, on the street, a couple dallied, talking in low voices and laughing. Two females. Not my type._

 _On the next block, there was a single female, a teenager in the rebellious stage. Or that in-between stage where she's deciding whether she wants to stay a female, or trans into male. Either way, she was bordering on male, and by looks, she was close enough to my type. I was hungry, so I chanced it. Striding up to her, I whispered a compulsion spell, magicking her into submission. She half-collapsed against me, languidly wrapping her arms around my neck in a stupor. I held her, carefully tilting her head to the side, and sank my fangs into her neck._

 _God, it was good... Starving as I was, I had to force myself not to drain her dry. Plucking my fangs from her skin, I sealed the wound, then magically gave her injuries like those a mugging victim would get, simultaneously pushing her consciousness down until she was out cold. Glancing around to make sure no one was watching, I dragged her into an alley and laid her next to a Dumpster, changing her memories so she'd remember getting mugged rather than getting bitten. Then I moved on._

 _On the next street, I stopped short, feeling my heart leap. The man was tall, and gorgeous, a model-worthy blonde with hazel green eyes and angular features that made me ache to nibble on them. I had to take a moment to stop the arousal before it began, or else risk ruining everything._

 _Only when I was sure I wouldn't make a fool of myself did I move toward him. He glanced up from his phone, saw me, and returned to his phone._

 _Ah, humans._

 _"Excuse me." He glanced up again, this time smiling._

 _"Can I help you?" he asked pleasantly in a deep, sexy voice that almost destroyed my resolve._

 _"Yes," I smiled in return, lacing my own voice with a submission spell. "I am in desperate need of a kiss from your deliciously soft lips."_

 _Could I be any more corny? But hey, he fell for it; eyes glazed, he slipped his phone into his pocket and stepped toward me, leaning in. At the last moment, I shifted, dipping to sink my fangs into his neck._

 _I probably should have kissed him first, but his blood just about made up for it; I could swear it was some kind of drug or something._

 _Too soon, I'd taken as much as I dared and I removed my fangs. He stumbled, deprived of my support, and I caught him, planting a soft kiss on the corner of his mouth._

 _"Thanks for the meal, sexy," I said, pushing him into unconsciousness and teleporting him to the nearest hospital with a blank spot in his memory and a wonderful dream to remember when he woke._

 _One more human, and I'd be full, ready for the night's activities._

 _The next street was occupied by a group of college guys out for a night of fun. I could probably have captured them to take to the Soul Collector, but they weren't nearly worth the soul karma it would take to do so. I moved on._

 _Another couple was hanging out on the next street, a male and a female. They were older than me, but still fairly young, and I crossed the street to avoid hearing their obnoxious pet names and teasing._

 _Pausing at the end of the block, I realized I'd more than likely run into a lone human somewhere between here and the teleport house, and I didn't want to stray too far from it anyway, lest I use up strength needed for the mines later. So I turned and headed back. The college guys were gone, but there was a woman hurrying along that I ignored. No longer desperate for food, I didn't bother even considering the lone females._

 _The next street was empty, as was the one after, and there was another woman the street over from the teleport house. Annoyed, I set out the other way in search of a man from whom I could feed and fill up. I passed an old man too fragile to bother with, and two drunk friends out for drinks before finding another man worth feeding from. He wasn't totally my type, but he wasn't bad looking either; he had shaggy brown hair and warm onyx eyes set in a gentle face._

 _Unfortunately, the moment I approached, his expression turned wary and he slipped into the nearest building. Sighing, I moved on._

 _Luckily, however, another man stood alone the next street over. He was more of a business-type, a bit stocky, but the good kind of stocky with close cropped black hair and dark brown eyes that looked darker against his light brown skin._

 _I knew his type, and within moments, I had him subdued. When I finished feeding from him, I sent him to the hospital and returned to the teleport house so I could go home for a quick nap before the real fun began._


End file.
